Guests of FIFA World Cup-2018 ignored visa-free travel to Abkhazia

The visa-free travel regime for the period of the World Cup failed to result in a sharp increase in the flow of tourists to Abkhazia from the neighbouring Sochi, which hosted World Cup matches. During the period of visa-free regime, only 2000 foreigners visited Abkhazia.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that from June 15 to August 1 this year, Abkhazia, in connection with the World Cup in Russia, cancelled its visa regime for foreigners, who entered the republic from Russia.

During the visa-free regime, over 2000 foreigners visited the republic, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told in the Frontier Guard Detachment of the National Security Service (NSS) of Abkhazia. "About 1650 foreigners visited Abkhazia, and about 400 persons crossed the border under their fan's passports," the Detachment has specified.

Most tourists learned about Abkhazia for the first time, including the journalists Luis Enrique and Cesar Julio Sanchez from the "Azteca" Mexican TV Channel, who were in Sochi during the World Cup. "We could only get out for a few hours to get acquainted with the local cuisine and see the sights," Luis Enrique told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to the Frontier Department for the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB), in the period from May 1 to July 25, 2018, the Russian-Abkhazian border was crossed for 2.7 million times. This is almost 190,000 less than during the same last year's period.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 4, 2018 at 09:45 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.